Method of making tire-beads.



a citizen olf the llnited onrrnn sTA'rnsmrATENT OFFICE.

`lIIiEIIIl-lll/l C. STEVENS, OF AKRON, OHIO, ASSIGNOR TO THE FIRESTONE TIRE & RUBBER COMPANY, OF AKRON, OHIO, CORPORATION OF OHIO.

METHOD OF MAKING TIRE-BEADS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Deo. 21), 1914.

Original application filed. Becember 21, 1912, Serial No. 737,934. Divided and this application led January To all rho/it t may come/'21.'

lle it known that l, ll'tLLL-xir C. Srnvnxs, States, residing at Akron, in the county of Summit and State of Ohio, have inve? ed certain new and useful improvements in .llethods of `Making- 'i`iie-le:,uls, being a division of my applica tion yerial No. T3' 55317 liled lecember 21. 11112. and of which the following is a specilisation.

My invention relates to methods employed in the manufacture of pneumatic tires and particularly the forming of the rubber beads built into the irarginal portions of such tires to provide the lateral offsets or lips which take under the flanges of the wheel rim to hold the tire in place upon the wheel.

` These beads are usually of a substantially triangular cross-section and are composed of rubber containing a plurality of brous strands extending longitudinally thereof. ln the formation of such beads l employ a plurality of strips torn fronra fabric which is impregnated with rubber of such a nature as to be sticky, these strips being hunched into afillet and passed through forming rolls under tension and pressure. the resultant bead lengths being then wound upon reels or drums and cured.

ln order that the invention and the manner of its application may be readily understood by those skilled in the art, I have in the accompanying illustrative drawings and in the detailed following description based thereon set forth a preferred manner of carrying out the invention. ln these drawings,

Figure 1 is a top plan of a portion of a Y machine constructed for the carrying out of my invention; and Fig. 2 is a fragmentary longitudinal vert-ical section on the line 2- :2 of Fig. 1.

Having reference to the drawings, the nui moral 11 designates the machine frame in which is journaled the drive shaft 1Q driven from any suitable source of power and pro; vided with the drive pinion 13 which is i n mesh with the gear wheel-1l mounted on the shaft 15 likewise journaled in the frame.

Upon the shaft 15 are splined a plurality f of ratchet wheels designated by the numeral 16. Each of the ratchet Wheels is associatedA with a iillet-forming wheel 17 to which., it is operatively coupled by pawls 18 provid- Serial No. 813,362.

ing for relative fmovement of the ratchet and tor-ming wheels 1n one direction only.

A sprocket 19 1s fixedly mounted.J upon the hub 20 of each forming wheel, each of knurled to present a roughened surface, and

the bead forming wheel 24e is provided with a similar groove, the operative faces of which are, smooth.

Immediately below the bead forming wheels Q1 are mounted upon the floating' shaft 2T a plurality of pressure rolls 28, each of which has a convex periphery 29, shoun as having a cross section in the form of a truncated wedge. the convex peripher)Y of each pressure roll Q8 working in the groove of the.corresponding bead forming wheel 2l. The bead forming Wheels 2l and the pressure rolls QS are likewise splined or otherwise suitably secured upon their shafts 25 and 2T to provide for longitudinally shifting the same in unison with the shifting of the fillet-forming wheels 17. Adjustment of the pressure rolls 28 toward and from the bead forming wheels 2l is provided for by mounting the shaft 2.7 within collars 3()4 of the levers 31, one end of each lever being pivotally fulcrumed upon the shaft which is suitably journaled in the frame while the opposite end of the lever is adjustably supported upon the cross beam B3 b v means of the set screw 34. v

Upon the top of the frame in one arm of the .journal bracket 35 is mounted a pair of coniining guide rolls 36 and 37 and in another arin of the same fournal bracket is mounted a pair of separating rolls 38and 39. Likewise mounted'upon the top of the frame is mounted a set of slittingv knives 40 shown for example as lcarried by a bar #il dle 45 At that end of the mndne opposite the forming wheels the frame'is provided with journal bearings adapted to receive the sha-ft 4G of a fabric spool 47. VVithin the journal bracket 48 in front .of the journal bearing of the shaft 46 is journaled a shaft l 49 carrying av guide roll 50 extending trans versely of the machine frame.

One side of the frame 11 is closed off inl its medialportion by a longitudinal frame member, while from the opposite side of the frame, as vwill be seen, the corresponding member is omitted, the frame being formed somewhat as an arch so as to permit a car 51 mounted upon wheels 52 to be run beneath the machine. This car carries pillow blocks provided with journal bearings 54 within which are mounted the two ends of the shaft 55 carrying a reel 56. One end of the shaft projects beyond its journal bearing (34 yand is squared, as shown at 57, for releasable engagement with a squared opening of the stub shaft 58 journaledin the machine frame.

lower is transmitted from the dri-ve shaft l2 to the stub shaft 58 for the drivinggof the reel shaft l5 by means of a drive shea-ve 59 mounted on the end of the drire shaft, a 'friction belt ,(30 passing from said sheave around the sheave 61 of the stub shaft 58 and thencel across and extending around the sheave 63 on the shaft of a liner winding reel (13, the tension of the belt being such as to permit slippage.

The machine is used in the following manner: Into its slotted journal bearing is slipped the shaft 46 of the reel 47 upon' which is wound a supply of fabric 64. This fabric is heavily impregnated with a sticky rubber, the warp of the fabric being com-` posed of longitudinal threads comparatively close together and of considerable strength', while the weft is composed of comparatively few threads of relatively small" strength. -Usually the sheet .of fabric is 44 inches wide, this' width being suliicient to make four beads simultaneously, 1-1 inches of fabric making a bead of standard size. The fabric lpasses from the reel 47 beneath the guide roll'O and thence between the con- Y The slitting knives 40 w-hi'f" are preferably 17 5 in number, being arranged in their elevated position engage the fabric and slit the same for a distance of 1?); or 2' feet into strips onequarter of an, inch wide. These strips passing in alternation lone above the separating roller 38 and the next below the separating.

roller 39, from whence they pass into bunching diesl 65, four in number, having their bases 66 independently slidable within the guide 67 whereby the)v may be adjusted to .occup y a position in the plane of the respec 'tive'lletforniing wheels 17, the mouth of each preferably .flaring to facilitate the entrance of the strips. If the bead is to'be from whence they are Conducted in parallel relation as a bundle 68 around the filletforming wheel 17 which is driven directly by the gear 14. The oppositefaces of the V-shaped groove in the fillet forming wheel y being rough, the bundle of strips is engaged thereby and the tension exerted by the driven forming wheel upon the bundle of #trips serves to crowd the latter' 'down into the groove .forming a compact fillet 69 of parallel strands or strips having a cross section corresponding to that of the groove. rPhe end of the fillet is introduced between the bead forming wheel 24 and the pressure wheel Q8 between which-wheels it is compressed into the final form of the bead 70. The peripheral 'speed ofthe bead forming wheel-Q4 -is slightly greater than that of the fillet-forming wheel 17 so that in addition to the compacting of the fibers or strands of the fillet 69 between the two wheels 24 and 28, the fillet is also subjected to a longitudinal .strain or tension supplementing that of the fillet-forming wheel 1 7 in taking all slack out of the warp threads and imparting to the bead-70 as it leaves the wheels 24 and 28A the highest degree of tensile resistance as well as compactness. After the forward end of the fabric has been initially slit for a short distance, as stated, bythe knives 40,

torn by reason of the fact that the alternate strips pass above and below the separating rollsBS and 39 and. are pulled continuously ice in a forward directionby their engagement' within the groove vof the fillet-forming wheel 17.

AssumingV that the car l51 having mounted thereon a set of reels 56 hasbeen placed in position beneath the machineframe, the forward end of the bead 70 is attached to ysuch reel and is tightly wound thereon, the

reel being frictionally driven through its sheave 61, theloose engagement of which with the belt 60 provides for the increase in diameter due to the addition of successive layers of bead thereon. When the reels -of one setv are lled the bead 7() is severed and the car 51 is run from beneath the maiso each successive layer of Jfaloric upon the reel 47 is arranged a liner sheet and as Jche fabril' is progre srirely unwound .this liner sheet is wound upon the liner reel 63, which. beingY likewise Trictionally driven from its sheaves GL). lakes up the liner sheet as fast as it is unwound from the reel 4T notwithstanding the increase in diameter of the reel due lo the lalyerr; aerumulating thereon. When the advance ends or' the 'four bundles.l of strips are engaged within the grooves of the lilletforming wheels 17 it may happen that one hundle is less mut than the others and as the fillet-forming wheels are driven Aat a uniform Speed it is desirable that all. of the bundles shall be equallyY taut so that' the tension shall be uniformlyv applied .to the sheet of fabric Si. To aizefnnplish chieI result` the ratchet connection between each ofthe forming wheelf; 1T and their common Shaft l5 is provided, the operator being able to grusp that Wheel ll' of n'hirh the bundle of strips is Slack and by turning the saine o the exfent of one or more ratchet teeLh take up 1he slank and bringr about a uniform tension upon the sev eral bundles of Strips,

illi'hile I have herein illustrzded and described with a l'onsiiflerable degree oi par tii'ularity constructional deiails ol" a niarhine for carrying out-nn,v inrcnfion. it to he underhlood that the inventioi'i noi limited to the einplovinent o' a particular machine, ihat shown and described hein; merely oneri)c divers mechanical constructions which might be ei'npl'oyed to greater or lesv advantage in efinnection with the inrention which resides in the improved method of making tire heads.

l claim:

l. l'he inethod of making a tire bead wl'iirh consists in separating into narrow .drips a sheet ol fabric impregnated with ezirlqvcinnposilion, bundling a plurality ol' the Strips in suhstantially parallel rela fion, and coiniriacting the bundle to produce a bead of the desired cross section, Substanially as described.

:1. The method of making a tire bead i-oinposition, bundling a plurality of the- .drips in generally longitudinal relation7 and impacting the bundle to produce a head of the denired cross section, Substantial lli' as desrrihed.

l. The method of making a tire head which ,cousins in tearingr into narrow strips u sheet of Yl'abrie ron'iposed of a Strong Warp and of a compaiatirely weak weft and imiii-vaunted with sticky rubber, bundling a blnrnliiy of the strips in Substantiallyparallel relation. passing [he bundle ll'irough re4 lar) forming rollel to produce a bend of the lerirrd i-rosga Section, and curing the head, nlndanlially as described.

lneslriinony 'whereof I have hereunto rsiened my naine in the presence oli two subscribing' niunsses.

Wl lily] AM STEVENS.

Va'ineeses:

(l. J'. Sima, 

